Dmitry Tursunov upsets Janko Tipsarevic in first round – Rakuten Open 2011
Russian Dmitry Tursunov surprised sixth seeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic in troublesome three sets at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, an ATP World Tour 500 series event held in Koto, Tokyo, Japan. He registered a 7-6(6),
6-7(3), 7-5 success over the Serb to reach the second round on Wednesday.
World number 40, Tursunov required three hours and three sets to overpower the resilience by the seed, ranked thirteen in the ATP rankings, on their third meeting. He not only avenged his loss at Wimbledon three years ago but also
took lead in the head-to-head series by 2-1 against Tipsarevic.
Both tennis super stars confidently entered Ariake Coliseum and held their opening serves.
28-year-old Tursunov smashed ferocious volleys to fish out easy points and held entire serves without facing any breakpoint. He also hammered five aces and registered an impressive 74 percent win on his lower first serve share.
27-year-old Tipsarevic on the other hand rolled the balls expertly onto the lines through blistering forehands form his arsenal of skills. He plucked in entire serves after warding off the only breakpoint faced and clobbered a
higher first serve share of 72 percent.
As a result, the set went to a tie-breaker where the Russian prevailed to clinch the opener with a 7-6(6) win.
The frustrated Serb re-focused in the second set and after exchanging an early break, he broke Tursunov’s serve again in the sixth game to take a 4-2 lead. However, he could not maintain his lead and lost his serve in the ninth
game. The set went to a tie-breaker where the seeded Serb used a different strategy to edge over Tursunov and to register a 7-6(3) score line.
Tipsarevic kept momentum rolling in the final set and after holding his opening serve, he got the first blood in the third game to have an edge over the Russian. Despite losing his serve in the very next game, he broke again in
the fifth game to put his nose ahead in the match.
The Russian quickly counterattacked by snatching his break back in the next game and then held remaining serves after maintaining his composure. Tursunov then capitalised on the third breakpoint opportunity to his advantage after
breaking the Serbian’s serve to love in the last game to seal the set by winning seven games to five.
Up next for the high spirited Russian is the Colombian Santiago Giraldo who warded off late resistance to register a straight set victory over the Dutch number one Robin Haase and booked this spot.
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